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I see a bunch of posts regarding the power differences between Garmin (coming from a Power Meter) and Strava.  As the nerd in the group i am usually call on to help other with their tech.  On my setup, what comes out on the Garmin exactly matches what is displayed on Strava.  For the rest of our group, the difference is large, Strava is always 30 watts or more less.  So I don’t really buy this theory about handling the zero’s becuase we all ride together.  Does anyboy have any real reason why for my setup everything matches, and for others it doesn’t?  

The only thing i could think of would be power meter drop outs?  But with four or five guys in the group having the same problem other than me, this doesn’t make sense.

Any thoughts?

 

How zeros are handled in Garmin devices depends on a setup there, so you have to compare if everyone in your group uses the same Garmin setting. If one has set the Garmin to exclude zero watts then it would be normal that the power is different than in Strava where zeros are included. In group rides the differences would be especially large because there is much more coasting involved than in solo rides.

Ok, where do you see that in your Garmin Settings?  I looked for that.  If it’s possible that I don’t have my garmin set to ignore zero watts and everyone else does, that could explain it, but i couldn’t find a setting for that in Garmin.

You could search in your Garmin device’s documentation for the word “zero”. For my Edge it’s in the system menu, submenu “Data Recording” and there “Power Averaging”. I bet you did change that at some time because the Garmin standard is to exclude zeros.

Thanks everyone for your help.  When we made those changes to Garmin, everyone matched up exaclty between Garmin and Strava.  Now us nerds can ride happy.

 

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